


Livin on a prayer

by miss_yellow_robes



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supernatural
Genre: Coma, Comatose Sam, Flashbacks, Gabriel Lives, Good Gabriel, Happy Ending, Not Really Character Death, Sad, Sad Gabriel, Suicidal Dean, Suicide, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 19:02:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7945663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_yellow_robes/pseuds/miss_yellow_robes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity finds a car parked on the side of a bridge and goes to help. What she finds is a man about to jump. Things happen, stories are told, and a very sad Gabriel tries to fix everything.</p><p>Or, the Arrow/Supernatural crossover no one asked for, where Sam's in coma and Dean is depressed without his brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Livin on a prayer

Felicity Smoak sat in her car, headed towards her daytime job. It was an ordinary day. Or as ordinary as her days could be. Working with vigilantes in the night, trying to save people, save her city, and dating the former millionaire and playboy Oliver Queen at day. It was a strange life. And she absolutely loved it. And today, today was gonna be just like that. 

She presses her breaks. She’s driving her car over a bridge, hundreds of feet over the ground beneath. There’s a black, old, beautiful car parked at the side. She lets her keys stay in the ignition, with her motor running as she opens her door and gets out. All she’s gonna do is ask whoever’s driving that pretty pretty car if they need help with anything. Her heels makes loud ‘clicking’ noises as she rounds the car. What she sees isn’t exactly what she expected. A man is standing in front of her. At the very edge of the bridge, nothing infront of him to keep from falling if he leans forward. His arms straight out, palms open, pointed towards the sky. His face is turned upwards. She can’t see his face, but still fear seattle, cold and sharp, in her stomach. She’s seen enough movies to know what this means.

“Don’t.” She doesn’t know she’s spoken until she sees the man turning his head. He lets his arms fall to his side. He’s beautiful. Dark blonde hair shining in the sun, green glittering eyes, and a face sprinkled with freckles. He smiles at her, and she feels her heart flutter in response. It’s like he just stepped out of some of her very secret fantasies. 

“I’m sorry.” She doesn’t register it at first, but when she does, realisation dawn on her and she lunges forward. But the man has already raised his arms. He leans forward, and the wind catches his open leather jacket, as he falls out of sight. 

She staggers. Heart pounding loudly in her ears, and her hands shaking, as she tries to find something to hold onto. 

He jumped.

He’s dead.

She feels her eyes watering. She clutches onto her own chest, and bends forward, as trying to keep something in. She tries to breath, but it’s like all air is gone.

Then something flashes before her eyes. 

She looks up to be met with blue walls. Blue walls, and windows, letting dull, grey light in. Some lamps are lit, spread out on the walls of what seems like one long corridor with glass doors. She takes a step back, just to be met with the cold surface of another wall. She feels her breath slowly calming, letting her heart slow down. She looks around. A woman walks past, wearing purple robes, that look uncomfortably alike the hospital gowns nurses wear. 

She takes a slow step forward. Smelling. Disinfectant. Chemicals. Sickness.

Hospital.

As she makes her conclusion, she feels a hand on her shoulder. She spins around alarmed to be met with a man, half a head taller than her. A straight pointed nose and clamped lips, brown hair hanging around his face and a pair of golden hazel eyes, so very sad. 

“Smoak.” At once, all her feelings about the man in front of her is hardened. He knows her name. He did this.

“Who are you!?” Where have you taken me?!” She feels her voice break, but she can’t seem to care. Her feelings are all over the place. She was in her car. Then she watched a man die. And now she’s in a hospital, and a man she’s never met knows her name.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?”

He lays both of his hands on her arms, keeping her still. He looks in her eyes, hushing her. He smiles reassuringly. ‘It’s okay’, he tells her. Warm eyes. No ill intent. At least not that she can see. But she’s never been very good at that kind of stuff. That’s always been Oliver’s job. Or Diggle’s or… Someone, but not her.

“Calm down.”

“I am calm.” She tells him, without lying. She really is calm. Somehow, after all that’s happened, and all that's going on, she’s calm.

The man removes his hands.They hang abandoned at his sides. He smiles weakly. 

“Was that… real? What I saw. Did… Did he really…?” She stops. Can’t bring herself to finish.

The man nods. “Yeah. That really happened.”

“Who was he?” The man takes a deep breath, and as he lets it out, he slumps down in a chair by the wall. He gestures for her to join him.

“His name was Dean.” He looks at his wristwatch. “He died 22 minutes ago. Suicide.”

She doesn’t answer. Just looks down at her hands, lying still and cold in her knee.

“This is Linwood Memorial Hospital. It’s a long-term care facility. Mostly patients are sent here to wait for their death.” His words trigger something in her mind and she starts humming on a melody. ‘In my time of dying’, it’s a Led Zeepelin song. It feels fitting.

The man suddenly stands up. He walks over to the door closest to them. He walks in. The door has time to close behind him, before she jumps up and follows.

Inside, the first thing she sees are green walls. Pastel green walls, surrounding her. A window showing her the grey sky outside, and the man. He stands right before her. Blocking her view. She takes a step to the side, to stand next to him.

Before them is a hospital bed. Occupying it is a man in his thirties. He takes up the entire bed. Looking him over, she realises he must be over 6 feet tall. Still, he looks weak. His cheeks are sunken is, and his eyes firmly closed. He is alarmingly thin for a man his size. His hair lies around his head like a broken gloria. It’s even longer than the man’s beside her.

There are plastic tubes leading from the man’s nose, providing him with oxygen. The many machines standing around him beeps steadily. He’s pale. Quite like a ghost, he lies there.

There’s no looking at a man this sick, without feeling your heart ace. He’s still young. Not much older than her.

“Who is he?”

“Sam Winchester.” The man takes a step forward, and lays a hand, very carefully, on the man’s leg. He looks at him, like expecting him to wake up. Felicity has already figured out that the man is in some kind of coma. 

“Why are we here?” She walks up to him. Trying to catch his eyes.

The man looks up to her. “Sam has been here for nine years.” He gathers himself, and lets go of Sam. “There’s more I must show you. His face a serious mask, he gestures for the door. She walks out, knowing he’s right behind her. But as she open the door, she realises something is wrong. 

The walls.

The walls are yellow.

She turns to her side to see light flooding the hall from big windows. She spins around further. In front of her is a valt, not the the door she just walked through. She’s still in a hospital though. But this time it seems to be an ordinary one. She can hear people rushing past behind her. Coughing. Crying. Beeping of machines and yelling. And that smell again. Sickness lies thick in the air, mingling with the smell of disinfectant. 

The man is still standing in the room before her. Like he hasn’t moved. He looks at her invigorative. His eyes the color of whiskey in the light of the sun. She walk in.

There is a young man sitting by the side of another. In a hospital bed is what she would first described as a boy. But as she gets closer she sees he’s a man. A young man. Barely in his twenties. He’s got bangs hanging all over his forehead, a pointy nose, and thin lips. He looks very young, fragile. His pale skin in strong contrast to the thick, chocolate color of his hair. He too, like the man before, has tubes going from his nose, and a heart monitor beeping steadily at his side. She goes a little closer. The man at the bed doesn't seem to notice. She reaches for the lying man’s hand. There is a hospital wristband wrapped around his wrist. She bends down to read it.

\- SAMUEL WINCHESTER -

She pulls back, terrified. Turns to look at the man. The fear once again making her heart pound faster. 

“It’s not him! Tell me it’s not him!” She screams at him, but he doesn’t even flinch. The other people in the room doesn’t even register.

“Nine years ago, 2007, this happened. By now, he’s only been in a coma for a few hours. Getting closer to the 24h mark. It’ll take two weeks before he’s moved to the long-time care facility. It’ll take 13 more years for his heart to finally give away.“

Felicity sinks to the floor. She can’t believe this. She’s just an ordinary IT-girl. But now? She’s been in places, without going there. She’s seen a man’s past, and heard his future. She’s witnessed a suicide, and is following a mystery man around in what can only be called a dream.

Is she dreaming? She pinches her arm hard. Ouch! No. Not dreaming.

She raises to her feet, takes a breath, and looks to the window. It’s not sunny anymore. She walks towards it. 

Outside she can see a graveyard. She knows she’s not looking at the backyard of the hospital, but to another place, maybe another time.

The rain is pouring down. A coffin is getting lowered into the ground by a new-looking gravestone. A priest is there, looking sad and clutching to his bible. There are only four other persons there. An asian boy, a young red-headed woman, an old man wearing a baseball cap and man wearing a trenchcoat. They all look odd, like they don’t belong there, or together. Like they’ve been pulled together, and are gonna part as soon as they can. It’s sad to watch. Without hearing what they say, she knows it’s Sam’s funeral. She turns away, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. She forces them away with a few angry blinks. 

 

“Why are you showing me this?” She looks over at the young man. So still. Peaceful. Like he’s sleeping. She shakes her head and starts to angrily stomp out of there. She’s had enough of mind games. But before she has a chance to leave, the door opens and a woman comes in. Brown hair, and a tough expression on her face. She walks over to the man at the side of the bed. He’s holding the other one’s hand. Felicity turns to look at the man sitting patiently. He’s not recognizing the woman's presence. Just calmly watches the unconscious man. He’s wearing a worn leather jacket, has dark blonde hair, and fairly broad shoulders. He reminds her of someone else. Someone hard, but hurt. 

Oliver.

She must have said that out loud because the man turns towards her. How that works, when she’s not supposed to really be there, she doesn’t understand. But turn, he does. And she recognises him. The apple green eyes and the freckle dotted nose. It’s him. Dean. That means... Dean Winchester, and the other guy, Sam, must be his brother. 

“Dean jumps, after nine years of missing his younger brother, seeing him everyday, looking like that. So close, like he’s sleeping. Like he could just reach out and touch him.” The man smiles sadly. “I know what’s it’s like to lose your brother. Sam is four years younger than Dean. He’s 22 here.”

 

“What happened?” As she asks, she feels her tensed muscles ease. She lets go of her fighting. She’s too far in, she has to know, so she allows him to show her. She closes her eyes.

She can feel the wind in her hair, and the smell of grass, and people, and everything not hospital. She opens her eyes, just to see a couple walking past. It’s Sam, even younger. He’s laughing with a girl. God, he’s tall. When he smiles, his face shines like the sun. Deep dimples crosses his cheeks. His hair blowing in his eyes. The girl beside him has wavy golden hair, falling along her back. A proudness in her step, and a confident smile on her lips. They are young, and clearly in love.

She sees the school building behind them as they walk past.

“That’s…” The mystery man starts, but she interrupts him.  
“Stanford. I know. Does he go here?”  
He hums. “He studies to become lawyer. Want to save people. Do some good in the world. Become something more.”

“The scenery changes. She sees Sam getting dragged out of a building on fire. She has time to catch the sight of an arm reaching out of the fires before the roof collapses in. Sam is dragged from the building by his brother, and sat down against a black car outside. He sits there. Limp. Sirens can be heard in the background. And she can see people gathering around in the night. She hears him whispering something and leans towards him, confident he won’t know she’s there.

“Jess.” His voice is broken. She understands. The girl, the one he loved.

NO.

It’s later. Sam is smiling. It’s small. But it’s there. He looks tired, but alright. His brother is grinning beside him. Pride in his eyes, for making his brother smile. They are sitting in a black muscle car. Dean’s driving. Sam’s routing through a box filled with cassettes, with titles like ‘metallica’. Sam huffs as he goes through them. 

“I swear man, you’ve got to update your cassette-tape collection.” Sam looks disapprovingly at his older brother.

“Why?”

“Well, for one, they’re cassette tapes. And two, Back Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica? It’s the greatest hits of the mullet rock.” Felicity can’t help but grin at the conversation she’s witnessing. She does agree with Sam. Especially when he starts picking up the cassettes and waving them around. Dean snatches one from his hand.

“House rules Sammy. Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cake hole.” He puts the cassette in the player. ‘Back in Black’ by AC/DC starts playing loudly.

“You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve year old. It’s Sam, ok?”

“Sorry, I can’t hear you. The music’s too loud.” Dean grins.

The scene changes.

 

She can see Dean walking in what looks like a deserted town. He’s tense. Maybe even scared. A few paces behind him is the old man from the funeral, with the cap. He looks younger. He’s also carrying a rifle, with a certainty you only get with time. There is a noise, she turns to see Sam coming stumbling towards them. He’s clamping a hand to his wrist, and staggering a bit, but he looks relieved. Dean smiles reassuringly at first, but then he tenses. He yells a clinging “SAMMY” before running toward his brother with panic in his green, green eyes. Someone is behind Sam, and they’re attacking him somehow. She can’t see clearly... 

Sam falls to his knees as Dean gets a hold of him. He yells his name again and shakes him. Desperation in his eyes. Sam is bleeding. Losing all strength and just falling together in a limbless pile, in Dean’s arms. He closes his eyes, and Dean cries out loud. 

“SAAAAMMMYYYYYYYYY!!!”

 

Suddenly she’s in a park. The sun is shining again. It’s early fall, and the leaves on the ground rastl. She falls to her knees. Hand on her mouth. A silent sob escapes her trembling lips. The mystery man stands above her.

“You can change it.” He says as he offers her his hand. “I can’t, but you can. See him over there? By the tree?” He pulls her up and points to a tree casting a shadow over a pair of figures.

And she does. Dean is leaning, younger than ever, against the trunk of a tree, flirting with a shy, brunette girl.

The man bends towards Felicity and whispers in her ear. It’s instructions.

She doesn’t hesitate. She walks straight over, ponytail bobbing and eyes set. When she gets there, she shews the girl away and takes a stand. Dean can’t be older than eighteen. He goes nervous at her appearance and backs down a little. 

“Wow, hey there. I don’t know who’s mother you are, but I can assure you that I didn’t mean to hurt her!”

Felicity stares at him, completely dumbfounded for a moment. Mother?! He seems to guess her line of thought and quickly follow up.

“Or sister! Or friend, or relative or whatever. Total misunderstanding.” He smiles, sheepishly.

She tells him. Straight what she’d been told, reciting every word. And then she leaves. He yells after her but she keeps walking. 

Suddenly it’s like everything starts shaking. She gets a glimpse of a genuine smile on the mystery man’s face as reality crumples.

 

 

She’s sitting in her car. In the parking lot. It’s the same day as Dean Winchester jumps. But before it happens. She quickly fastens her seatbelt and pushes down on the gas. She must get to the bridge to stop him! She gets it in sight, slowing down. She pulls to the side when she sees the black car, parked at the same place as before. She runs as fast as her heals can carry her, to where she’d found him standing on the edge last. She rounds the car and...

Stop.

She freezes.

It’s Dean alright, with his leather jacket and dark blonde hair. But he’s not standing with arms straight out. He’s sitting with dangling legs on the edge, leaning back on his hands. A beer bottle on the ground next to him. On the other side is. Sam. Fucking. Winchester. His long, shaggy hair the color of chocolate, not the grey-brown color it had when she first saw him. He’s sitting there, on the bridge where his brother killed himself. Or is going to. Or never did? Dean says something and he chuckles. A warm, very conscious sound.

She can’t help but let a noise of relief and joy leave her, as she sees them. Safe and sound. Enjoying each others company, and laughing. 

Sam turns to her. He looks at her expectantly at first but then smiles, dimples and all. Heightens his bottle at her and turn back to his brother.

 

Quietly she leaves. Going back to her car, she seattle contently. The mystery man is sitting next to her.

“Why? Why did he kill himself?” She asks him.

“Sam and Dean are alone. They’ve never really had a mother. Their father… neglect is a kind word. It’s been just the two of them for many years, since he died a long time ago. No family. Few friends. Tragedy follows them around like a curse. But they live. Because they have each other.” He pulls out a wrapped lollipop from his pocket.

“And when they lose that…”

“There’s only so much you can take when you’re alone.” He looks down to his hands, and start unwrapping the candy.

“But that never happened now.” 

“True.” He finishes and puts it in his mouth.

“Why are you helping them?” The man only smiles at her silently. Letting her know that he does not intend on answering that question.

“Why me though?”

“Because you could see someone in him? Couldn’t you? You felt connected, I knew you’d help me.”

“Oliver. I thought of Oliver.”

“You should go to him. I’m sure he needs you. I’ve already borrowed you too long.” He grins.

“Will you ever tell me what really happened? If it was real?” He just smiles and shakes his head. They stay in silence for a while. The only noise their breathing, and the man licking his lollipop happily.

“You seem different.”

“I am. By changing their fate, you changed mine as well.” He laughs, a warm contagious laughter. He turns his entire body toward her. 

“Call me Trixter. You ever need something. I’m at your service.” He smiles and starts unwrapping a candy bar, even with the unfinished lollipop still in his mouth.

“But how do I…” She doesn’t have time to finish until he’s gone.

“...Find you.” She shakes her head, a wide smile stretching across her face. With her thumbs on her wheel she starts tapping a melody, before pulling out and driving past the Chevrolet Impala, which she clearly can see now, and continuing along the bridge. She smiles as she catches a glimpse of the brothers in her rear mirror. She keeps going.

Suddenly her phone rings. She struggles to answer it.

“Felicity? We need you. Come fast. “

Oliver. 

She pressed the gas harder, and feel her smile stretch on her face. This is a good day.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, that was that. Hoped you enjoyed reading it. Bit sad, but good anyways. I thought of what could have happened, if Sam had died in season 2, and if Gabriel had decided to step in.


End file.
